Once they got back to camp Alpha and Hannibal went to take rest under the Radiant Tree, with Lucius giving the chieftains permission to join as well.
A few of the members from the F and C department rushed to meet him as soon as he arrived, claiming to have completely memorized the internals and externals of the mushroom domes.
~The conspiracist, his friend... and this one is new,~ Lucius thought to himself as he looked at the three laevyes standing in front of him.
"Follow me," he said after some thought, before leading them toward the Radiant Tree.
"You first," he said, pointing towards the conspiracist. He briefly explained how the tree worked, and each of them touched it one by one.
The conspiracist had most of the internals correct, though due to his limited height, he couldn't see the top of the structure and had to assume how it looked... which ended up being wrong. Lucius quickly showed him the correct schematics and moved on to the next one.
The next laevye's structure was more or less the same as the conspiracists, although her assumption of the roof was better than his by a great margin. The only thing wrong with hers was that she had assumed that the roof and the building were separate structures when they were not.
Lastly, the final laevye had everything correct. From its memories, it would seem it had climbed the Radiant Tree in secret which Lucius had to admit showed dedication, and out-of-the-box thinking. However he still warned the laevye against doing it again as they were still unsure about the Radiant Tree and its behavior.
"Okay, you three pass," he said once they had all been tested.
"So does that mean one of us will be premier?" the conspiracist asked, all three of them showing their enthusiasm in different ways.
The conspiracist had a knowing smirk on his face as if he already knew that he would be chosen. The second one was trying to keep her composure, but her body was literally shaking in excitement. While the third seemed to be the most elusive, it had a kind of gleam in its eyes, not as if it was expecting to be chosen, but as if it was already content that it had passed.
"All three of you will be named interim premiers... which means the position is temporary. I'll see which one of you is better suited for leadership and decide on it at a later date," he explained.
~I'm heading for the mountains tomorrow... so I ought to hold some sort of meeting tonight,~ he thought to himself as the laevyes giggled in excitement.
"I'll have a ranking ceremony for you tonight, whilst I'm giving out my other announcements. For now, go call the others, I'll be sending everyone on a mission," he announced after a bit of thought.
Once the three of them had come back with the other members, he ordered them to divide themselves into teams, each premier heading their respective team.
"Okay, everyone at attention," he called out, silencing the excited murmurs and shouts of congratulations being shared amongst the members.
"Today all three squads will be going on a gathering mission. Squad 1, you'll be gathering rocks for tool heads. We will be looking for a certain type of rock, just like those," Lucius said, pointing towards one of the tools leaning against the storage shed.
He used Elmando to have a bundle of vines bring it to him, before removing the stone head and passing it to the leader of squad 1.
Finding the vines useful, he decided to wrap them around his tail with Elmando for later use.
"Pagan will be acting as your security detail for today... so please be on the lookout. We all know Pagan isn't the most... caring," he explained, before moving on to the second squad.
"You guys will be collecting a different type of rock. A grinding rock... similar to the one I used to use. It doesn't have to be as specific as squad 1's but it must have a rough and hard surface, enough to grind other stones at least," he said, before looking around the camp for the grinding stone he used to use.
Once he found one he used his bundle of vines to snake towards it and drag it back to him, which was good exercise for his Elmando.
"Alpha will be you-" The moment he mentioned Alpha sighs of exasperation were let out. It would seem everyone was aware that they would be working even harder than they usually would.
"He will be your detail... and any exercises he may add will be a part of your mission. Take this as an advantage, the stronger you become, the easier this job will be," Lucius explained.
Finally, he got to the third squad.
"You guys will be on transport duty. I want you to carry as many large branches as you can towards a... settlement just a distance away from here. I will be your security detail," he explained.
In truth, he would add Ghost to the detail as well. He planned on using this time to learn a bit about poison manipulation from the chieftains, and have Ghost practice stealth while watching on to learn a bit herself.
"Is there a reason they have so much protection?" the conspiracist asked.
"So much protection?"
"To have the Lighted One protect them whilst Hannibal is still free... I don't know seems like overkill," the conspiracist explained.
~Perhaps it'd be a waste to have you in the F and C department,~ Lucius thought to himself.
"That's classified, just focus on completing your mission. I'll award you guys based on the quantity and quality of the items you collect," he announced.
"I'll create some transport for you guys... though you'll have to pull it. I want you all to have high stats before you're named," he continued.
~Sigh, administration... I forgot to have created an administrative department,~ he realized, painfully aware of how hard it would be to keep track of everyone's rank and progress.
~Though it's not like I had many suitable candidates... probably Hannibal and maybe Asclepius, but they're already overworked,~ he thought.
For now he decided to jot down everything on mushroom slabs using Elmando, he would file everything and create the administrative department once he came back from the Shu'hakan.
